Datura is a genus of nine species of highly poisonous, vespertine-flowering plants belonging to the nightshade family (Solanaceae). They are commonly known as thornapples or jimsonweeds, but are also known as devil's trumpets. Other English common names include moonflower, devil's weed, and hell's bells. All species of Datura are extremely poisonous and psychoactive, especially their seeds and flowers, which can cause respiratory depression, arrhythmias, fever, delirium, hallucinations, anticholinergic syndrome, psychosis, and death if taken internally.
Solanum is a large and diverse genus of flowering plants, which include three food crops of high economic importance: the potato, the tomato and the eggplant. It is the largest genus in the nightshade family Solanaceae, comprising around 1,500 species. It also contains the so-called horse nettles, as well as numerous plants cultivated for their ornamental flowers and fruit.
Atropa belladonna, commonly known as belladonna or deadly nightshade, is a toxic perennial herbaceous plant in the nightshade family Solanaceae, which also includes tomatoes, potatoes and aubergine (eggplant). It is native to Europe and Western Asia, including Turkey. Its distribution extends from Ireland in the west to western Ukraine and the Iranian province of Gilan in the east. It is also naturalised or introduced in some parts of Canada, North Africa and the United States.
Nicandra physalodes is a species of flowering plant in subfamily Solanoideae of the nightshade family. It is known by the common names apple-of-Peru and shoo-fly plant. It is thought originally to have been native to western South America, including Peru, and is known elsewhere as an introduced and ruderal species – sometimes as a weed – in tropical, subtropical and, to a lesser extent, temperate areas all over the world. It has also long been cultivated as an ornamental plant for its attractive flowers and curious fruits and has been adopted into the traditional medicine of countries far-removed from its original home.
Scopolia is a genus of four species of flowering plants in the family Solanaceae, native to Europe and Asia. The genus is named after Giovanni Scopoli (1723–88), a Tyrolean naturalist. The genus has a disjunct distribution, with two recognised species in Central to Eastern Europe,, and two species in East Asia. The two European species are:
Mandragora officinarum is the type species of the plant genus Mandragora in the nightshade family Solanaceae. It is often known as mandrake, although this name is also used for other plants. As of 2015, sources differed significantly in the species they use for Mandragora plants native to the Mediterranean region. The main species found around the Mediterranean is called Mandragora autumnalis, the autumn mandrake. In a broader circumscription, all the plants native to the regions around the Mediterranean Sea are placed in M. officinarum, which thus includes M. autumnalis. The names autumn mandrake and Mediterranean mandrake are then used. Whatever the circumscription, Mandragora officinarum is a perennial herbaceous plant with ovate leaves arranged in a rosette, a thick upright root, often branched, and bell-shaped flowers followed by yellow or orange berries.
Tropane alkaloids are a class of bicyclic [3.2.1] alkaloids and secondary metabolites that contain a tropane ring in their chemical structure. Tropane alkaloids occur naturally in many members of the plant family Solanaceae. Certain tropane alkaloids such as cocaine and scopolamine are notorious for their psychoactive effects, related usage and cultural associations. Particular tropane alkaloids such as these have pharmacological properties and can act as anticholinergics or stimulants.
Banewort is a common name for several poisonous plants and may refer to:
The Hyrcanian forests are a zone of lush lowland and montane forests covering about 55,000 square kilometres (21,000 sq mi) near the shores of the Caspian Sea in Iran and Azerbaijan. The forest is named after the ancient region of Hyrcania. The World Wide Fund for Nature refers to the ecoregion as the Caspian Hyrcanian mixed forests. Since 5 July 2019, the Hyrcanian Forests have been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In September 2023, the heritage site expanded to incorporate portions of the forest located in Azerbaijan.
Hyoscyameae is an Old World tribe of the subfamily Solanoideae of the flowering plant family Solanaceae. It comprises eight genera: Anisodus, Archihyoscyamus, Atropa, Atropanthe, Hyoscyamus, Physochlaina, Przewalskia and Scopolia. The genera Archihyoscyamus, Atropanthe and Przewalskia are monotypic, the first being endemic to Turkey and Iran, the second to China and the third to Tibet.
Mandragora is a plant genus belonging to the nightshade family (Solanaceae). Members of the genus are known as mandrakes. Between three and five species are placed in the genus. The one or two species found around the Mediterranean constitute the mandrake of ancient writers such as Dioscorides. Two or three further species are found eastwards into China. All are perennial herbaceous plants, with large tap roots and leaves in the form of a rosette. Individual flowers are bell-shaped, whitish through to violet, and followed by yellow or orange berries.
Mandragora turcomanica, the Turkmenian mandrake, is a perennial herbaceous plant in the family Solanaceae, native to the Köpet Dag mountains in Turkmenistan and one location in neighbouring Iran. It differs from the mandrakes found around the Mediterranean chiefly by being larger.
The Solanaceae, or the nightshades, are a family of flowering plants that ranges from annual and perennial herbs to vines, lianas, epiphytes, shrubs, and trees, and includes a number of agricultural crops, medicinal plants, spices, weeds, and ornamentals. Many members of the family contain potent alkaloids, and some are highly toxic, but many—including tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant, bell and chili peppers—are used as food. The family belongs to the order Solanales, in the asterid group and class Magnoliopsida (dicotyledons). The Solanaceae consists of about 98 genera and some 2,700 species, with a great diversity of habitats, morphology and ecology.
Atropa baetica, commonly known as the Andalusian belladonna, is one of Europe's rarest wildflowers. A close relative of the infamous deadly nightshade, its specific name derives from that of the Roman province of Hispania Baetica, while its common name refers to the Spanish region of Andalucía – both designating the area in the south of Spain where it is most frequently encountered. It is an attractive perennial plant with a herbaceous habit, bearing infundibuliform, yellow or greenish flowers and shiny, black berries. Like the other three species of Atropa, it is an extremely poisonous plant, containing a variety of tropane alkaloids with anticholinergic, deliriant, antispasmodic and mydriatic properties. Although most populations of the plant are to be found in Spain, it is not wholly confined to the Iberian Peninsula of Europe, occurring also in certain localities in Morocco and Algeria in the Atlas Mountains of North Africa. The Rif and the Baetic System, which face each other across the Alboran Sea, together constitute one of the finest of the Mediterranean biodiversity hotspots – rich in endemic species, of which Atropa baetica is a notable example..
Atropa acuminata, also known as maitbrand or Indian belladonna, is a close relative of deadly nightshade of Europe and North Africa and, like it, is an extremely poisonous plant valued in medicine for its richness in tropane alkaloids with anticholinergic, deliriant, antispasmodic and mydriatic properties. The specific name acuminata signifies acuminate i.e. 'tapering to a long point' - in reference to the distinctive shape of the leaves. Atropa acuminata is native to the Himalayas, being found in Eastern Afghanistan, the North of India and Pakistan : from Balochistan in the West to Kashmir in the East, in an area including also Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Pakistan's Azad Jammu and Kashmir. The plant described under the name Atropa acuminata Royle ex Miers is found also in Eastern Iran and Mongolia.
Atropa pallidiflora is a close relative of the infamous deadly nightshade and, like it, is an extremely poisonous plant, containing a variety of tropane alkaloids valued in medicine for their anticholinergic, antispasmodic and mydriatic properties and deliriant in excess. Atropa pallidiflora is the least well-known of the four currently accepted species of Atropa and is endemic to the remarkable Caspian Hyrcanian mixed forests of Northern Iran, which can boast all the species of Atropa currently recognised, with the sole exception of the strictly Ibero-Maghrebi Atropa baetica. The binomial Atropa pallidiflora was published by Eva Schönbeck-Temesy in volume 100 ('Solanaceae') of Karl Heinz Rechinger's monumental Flora Iranica in 1972. The specific name pallidiflora signifies 'bearing flowers of a pale, wan or washed-out hue' and, while appropriate, is not especially evocative, given that the flowers of most Atropa species are far from vivid. The flowers of A. pallidiflora, like those of A.baetica, vary from greenish to yellow, but, as the designation 'having pallid flowers' might suggest, the yellow in question is a dingy greenish-yellow that is far from ornamental. The geographical term 'Hyrcanian' in the common name signifies that the plant is native to what was once the satrapy of Hyrcania, the name of which derives from an Iranian root meaning 'wolf' : Hyrcania is thus the 'Land of Wolves'. The name is an apt one, since the Hyrcanian forests have long been known as a hunting ground of legendary richness and beauty : the lush forests could support an abundance of large, mammalian herbivores, which in turn could support an abundance of apex predators - notably the wolf, but also the Persian leopard and even the tiger. The word 'Hyrcanian' will be familiar to any diligent reader of the works of William Shakespeare, as an epithet of the proverbially savage Caspian Tiger, known to the dramatist from his reading of the works of various Latin authors - who, in turn, were familiar with the Ancient Greek coinage 'Hyrcania' and the lands adjoining the Caspian Sea to which the place name referred. Regarding the richness of the Hyrcanian flora - of which Atropa pallidiflora is a noteworthy element - it is worth mentioning that the name of the modern Iranian province of Golestan has the delightful meanings of 'Rose Garden' and 'Land of Flowers'.
Atropanthe is a monotypic genus of flowering plants belonging to tribe Hyoscyameae of subfamily Solanoideae of the family Solanaceae.
Atropa indobelladonna is a species of flowering plant belonging to the family Solanaceae. It is native to the state of Arunachal Pradesh in the eastern Himalayas of India.
